‘Ruthlessly personal’: Karl Stefanovic’s fiery interview with Sussan Ley after WFH architect dumped from frontbench

Karl Stefanovic has taken a brutal swipe at the new Liberal leader over her “ruthlessly personal” decision to axe the WFH policy architect.

Liberal leader Sussan Ley’s decision to dump work from home policy architect Jane Hume from shadow cabinet has been savaged as “ruthlessly personal” in a fiery interview.

The big shock of the shake up was that high profile Senator Jane Hume and Liberal MP Sarah Henderson were dumped from the frontbench.

Today show host Karl Stefanovic confronted Ms Ley on Nine’s breakfast program over the changes on Thursday morning with a series of brutal questions.

“I am not saying this is a bad thing, but you are ruthlessly personal,’’ Today show host Karl Stefanovic said.

“That’s not my view, Karl,’’ Ms Ley replied.

“We have a fantastic team. I spoke to every one of the 54 in the line up about the role that we all need to play, because our job is to take the fight up to labor to be the strongest possible Opposition on behalf of the Australian people.”

Karl Stefanovic has gone head to head with Sussan Ley. Picture: Nine

Stefanovic then asked, “So, you don’t like Jane Hume, but it’s not personal?.”

“Jane is a fantastic colleague and contributor and will remain in exactly the role she has as senator for Victoria,’’ Ms Ley said.

“And whether you’re in the frontbench line up or the backbench, and these terms mean different things to different people. But I always say that no matter where you sit in the House of Representatives or the Senate, you have an enormous opportunity and a tremendous privilege.

“What we have to do is get out there and fight this fight hard.

“Because even if you did support Anthony Albanese at the last election, you do need to see a strong Opposition.”

“They said Peter Dutton had a problem with female voters, but now you’ve deliberately reduced the number of women in the Shadow Cabinet?,’’ Stefanovic then asked.

Ms Ley replied that 40% of her shadow ministry are women when you include the outer ministry.

Speaking in Canberra on Wednesday, Ms Ley denied that the decision to dump Senator Hume was a “get square” for the moderate MP backing Angus Taylor.

“Absolutely not. I’m not going to reflect on the qualities of individuals with respect to the qualities of other individuals. I don’t think that’s a fair question,’’ Ms Ley said.

“Opposition is not about hierarchies. It’s not about structure. It’s about getting every player on the field, fighting the fight, because this is not about the internals you’ve spoken of. This is about how we go out there to work hard for the Australian people.”

Jane Hume was dumped from the shadow cabinet. Picture: NewsWire / Monique Harmer

As expected, the high profile Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has been relegated to the outer ministry and will not sit in the shadow cabinet but she has secured a role in the defence industry portfolio.

If Senator Price had stayed with the Nationals, she would likely have been expected to secure the role of deputy and a frontbench role.

In relation to Senator Price, Ms Ley said she had spoken to her about the new appointment.

“She’s excited to take it up. There is no more important area than safety, national security and defence and you will see a great profiling of defence under Angus Taylor as we go forward in this term,’’ she said,

Senator Price, who had originally left the Nationals and defected to the Liberal Party to support and run for deputy leader, takes on the defence portfolio.

Senate leader Michaelia Cash will take on the prized foreign affairs role, going head to head against Senator Penny Wong in the Senate.

Deputy Liberal leader Ted O’Brien will take on the role of treasury spokesman while leadership aspirant Angus Taylor has been shifted from Shadow Treasurer to Defence.

James Paterson has been promoted to the Coalition spokesman for finance, government services, and the public service.

Future leadership aspirant Andrew Hastie, who had asked to move from defence into an economics or social services role, has been promoted to the spokesman for home affairs.

Former Nationals leaders Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack have been hit with demotions from the frontbench.

Sussan Ley and David Littleproud. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Ley lashed over decision to dump four women

As the dust settles from the shake-up, Liberals have pointed out there are now fewer women in the shadow cabinet than under Peter Dutton.

That’s because Ms Ley has dumped Victorians Jane Hume and Sarah Henderson from the frontbench and Tasmanian Claire Chandler and demoted Senator Jacinta Price.

There are now eight women in a 27-strong shadow cabinet - an enormous frontbench given the dwindling size of the opposition ranks in Parliament.

By comparison, there were 11 women in Mr Dutton’s 23-strong shadow cabinet prior to the election of Sussan Ley although a large number of new faces have been promoted to the outer ministry.

“I feel for Jane Hume, she’s just collateral damage,’’ a Liberal MP and supporter of Angus Taylor in the leadership ballot said.

But Senator Hume’s position is particularly curious, because while Mr Taylor’s group believes she voted for him in the secret ballot, Ms Ley’s supporters insist the moderate voted for her.

A similar mystery has emerged over exactly who Senator Hume has voted for in previous ballots leading to questions over her factional allegiances.

A regular on Channel 7’s Sunrise, she angered colleagues during the election over her claim “Chinese spies” were working at voting booths for the ALP along with the work from home debacle.

She also emerged in 2022 and in 2025 as a potential candidate for the deputy leadership.

“We think Jane did vote for Sussan. It’s not a punishment,’’ a supporter of Ms Ley said.

But other MPs claim that there was a falling out between the two women, amid claims Senator Hume had accused Ms Ley’s faction of backgrounding against her.

Jacinta Price (pictured with Peter Dutton) has been relegated to the outer ministry after defecting from the Nationals. Picture: Patrick Hamilton/AFP

Former leaders dumped from frontbench

Speaking on Sky News, Mr McCormack confirmed he wasn’t part of the new team and hinted he would have more to say about the big issues including net zero.

“So Barnaby and I are no longer in the shadow ministry, but that’s okay,’’ Mr McCormack said.

“That is the leader’s prerogative. He gets to make that call. “

Asked if he was being punished for being critical of the “shemozzle” that had unfolded in the Nationals, Mr McCormack didn’t deny it.

“You would have to ask David Littleproud,’’ he said.

“That is very much a question for him. But I spoke up and spoke out for what I felt was a decision that was taken in haste, a decision that we didn’t need to make last week, a decision that we could have spent much more time on if we didn’t need to make.

“I felt the break away from the Liberal Party....it looked messy, and from the public’s point of view, they must have just been scratching their heads and wondering what on earth was going on.”

Barnaby Joyce (pictured with Tony Abbott) has also been dropped from the frontbench. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Fallout continues with David Littleproud under pressure

Despite the peace deal, Mr Littleproud remains under pressure from his own MPs amid swirling speculation he could be replaced as leader.

Former Nationals leader Michael McCormack told news.com.au that he wouldn’t rule out a return to the leadership if he was drafted.

Nationals MP Colin Boyce has now claimed that “unfounded and wrong” information about the nature of the original negotiations with the Liberals that was provided by Mr Littleproud means” he can’t support him.

“How can you support a bloke that misleads the partyroom? I’m calling him out,” Mr Boyce told Sky News.

“I can’t do it. You take these four policies that David took to the first meeting with Sussan Ley, again, none of that has come through the partyroom. It wasn’t discussed.”

“The proposal to abandon the Coalition agreement was all based on advice given by National Party leadership. I think that advice was unfounded and wrong,” he said.

“If we are going to go into Coalition with the Liberal Party, cabinet solidarity is one of the most important things of having that Coalition.

Senator Matt Canavan, who challenged Mr Littleproud for the leadership this month, also urged the Liberals to keep their beaks out of the Nationals leadership business.